
Editorial: Gender and Age Differences in the Hepatic Consequences of “Humanized” Bile Acid Compositions in Mice - Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Bile acids (BA) are increasingly being appreciated beyond their lipid solubilizing properties as complex signaling molecules that are intricately involved in the regulation of metabolic homeostasis. Accumulation of BAs is also known to be a driving force behind cholestatic liver injuries. Although mouse models have long been used to study important aspects of BA metabolism, there are substantial differences between humans and mice in terms of BA pool composition and signaling potential, highlighting the difficulties in directly extrapolating mice findings to BArelated liver diseases in humans.
For example, compared with humans, rodents possess a significantly more hydrophilic BA pool because of the abundant presence of muricholic acids, a set of primary BAs hydroxylated at the 6-β position, making them much more water-soluble and less injurious. This, along with other species differences in BA composition, may explain why murine models of cholestasis fail to recapitulate the totality or severity of human diseases, and points to the urgent need to develop mouse models with “humanized” BA pool.
Read the Xiao Zhao editorial: https://www.cmghjournal.org/article/S2352-345X(21)00011-4/fulltext
Last modified: | 07 February 2021 10.40 a.m. |
More news
-
04 March 2021
Professor Lude Franke awarded Vici grant
The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded Prof. Lude Franke a Vici grant worth € 1.5 million. The Vici grant will enable him to develop innovative lines of research for the next five years. Vici is one of the largest personal academic grants...
-
04 February 2021
Molecule from nature provides fully recyclable polymers
Plastics are among the most successful materials of modern times. However, they also create a huge waste problem. Scientists from the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) and the East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) in...
-
10 December 2020
Aletta Jacobs Chairs: 15 female professors appointed
On International Women’s Day this spring, Rector Magnificus Cisca Wijmenga announced that the UG would be creating 15 new chair positions for female professors, known as the Aletta Jacobs Chairs. Fifteen female professors will soon start their work...